As we kick off Oscar month tomorrow, we also honor the birthday of Clark Gable, who picked up a statuette at the seventh Academy Awards ceremony in 1935. He got it for a movie he did not want to do — a comedy called It Happened One Night – and though he would be nominated twice more, he would not … More Details
Should we call him “Spartacus”? Or “Champion”? Both names certainly fit the man. Kirk Douglas turns 95 tomorrow, and he is still very much with us. (Over the past couple of years, I’ve spotted him and his beloved wife Anne twice in New York City, once in a restaurant and once at the theatre.) He embodies the American Dream because … More Details
Earlier this month, Burt Lancaster would have turned 98, an improbable age for most of us to reach. Yet this actor’s unique persona always exuded such robust vitality, you’d be forgiven for thinking that of all people, he just might make it. If any star was larger than life, it was Burt. Though sadly he never reached this milestone, he … More Details
With today heralding the official arrival of summer, I’m thinking about those great movies that reflect the heat, transition and sheer release of the season in exciting, unexpected ways. Yet when I did a Google search of top summer movies to inspire me, I actually found a lot of less-than-stellar movies being served up- among them, “Meatballs” (1979), “One Crazy … More Details
The late Deborah Kerr, who died just three years ago and would have turned 89 this coming Thursday, was the kind of star and personality we rarely see anymore: a lady first and foremost, who, even playing women of dubious virtue, exudes an innate sense of class, dignity, even nobility.
Starring roles in British productions ensued, followed by the siren call of Hollywood. Over her career, she was nominated six times for the Best Actress Oscar, but never won. In 1994, clearly ailing, she accepted an honorary Oscar, and her brief but eloquent acceptance speech spoke volumes about the special woman she was.
Starring roles in British productions ensued, followed by the siren call of Hollywood. Over her career, she was nominated six times for the Best Actress Oscar, but never won. In 1994, clearly ailing, she accepted an honorary Oscar, and her brief but eloquent acceptance speech spoke volumes about the special woman she was.
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Whether portraying the folly or glory of armed conflict, outstanding war films place the best and worst of our shared humanity in stark relief: on the good side lies our capacity for courage and sacrifice in the interest of a cause bigger than ourselves; on the other, we confront our innate barbarity and impulse toward aggression, which thousands of years … More Details
